


Hawkeyes and their Handlers

by lanyon



Category: Hawkeye (Comics), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: F/F, M/M, the care and feeding of hawkeyes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-01
Updated: 2013-09-01
Packaged: 2017-12-25 07:19:02
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,672
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/950260
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lanyon/pseuds/lanyon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's Kate Bishop's first day in SHIELD. It's probably not the right day to wake up half-in-love with a stranger.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hawkeyes and their Handlers

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sirona](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sirona/gifts).



> +Happy birthday, Sirona. You are one of the most wonderful people I know and I am genuinely delighted that we're friends.  
> +This is an unholy mashup of comics and movie canon, becoming something completely different. Do not adjust your sets.  
> +Thanks to Renne, Sarah and Beardsley, as always, for the encouragement. Thanks to Dani and to Sirona who both saw an early excerpt and gave me the confidence to keep going. Love you all.

Kate wakes up in a stranger’s bed but that’s okay. There’s a hand between her legs and it’s all she can do not to rock down onto it. Sometimes, she’s horny in the mornings and, sometimes, she’s happy. Today, though, she’s hungover and her tongue feels kind of furry.

The hand moves and, oh, Kate sighs. She turns around to face the stranger, dislodging the hand, and it’s the girl from the bar; the one who had the great hat (the hat that she’s still wearing, pulled down over her ears). Her face is scrunched up and her lipstick is smeared and her eyes are half-open. 

“Morning,” she whispers. 

“Morning,” Kate whispers back. “My mouth tastes like dead things.”

The stranger laughs and rolls onto her back. “That would be the tequila. And the Jägermeister. Also, the absinthe.”

“Shit,” sighs Kate. 

“Yeah.” The stranger pulls her hat down over her eyes. She sprawls a little, parting her legs. 

(Hawkeye Rule 1: Don’t think about the other Hawkeye while in bed with someone else.)

(Hawkeye Rule 2: Morning sex is not a good hangover cure but it is still sex.)

Kate moves, rising up on her hands and knees. She drops her head to kiss the hollow at the base of the stranger’s throat. She’s rewarded with a laugh. She raises one of the stranger’s legs and eases down, her cunt pressing against the stranger’s, whose hips rock up, whose hand reaches out to clasp Kate’s hip. Kate feels spasms of pleasure and heat with every slicker slide and she is bearing down and there is nothing like coordination. The stranger’s whole body seems to lift from the bed in a frantic attempt to maintain friction. The stranger’s other hand creeps down and her thumb rubs against Kate’s clit and Kate’s back arches, it arches, it sings. 

They are neither of them screamers but they are not quiet and moans, like aftershocks (fuck, there was Aftershock last night too), ratchet through their bodies. 

Kate’s phone vibrates. So does the stranger’s. 

“Work,” says the stranger. “Shit, _work_. What time is it?”

“Like, six,” says Kate, scrolling through her phone. Missed call from Hawkeye, times three. Missed call from a blocked number. “Oh, _shit_. I hate to fuck and run -”

The stranger sits up and pulls Kate into a sloppy kiss. It tastes gross but it still makes Kate tingle. “‘s cool. This was fucking awesome.” She plucks Kate’s phone from her hand and enters in her number. “Text me. Y’know. If you want to fuck and run again. I gotta shower.”

.

“I swear to god, I saw this episode of _Grey’s Anatomy_ ,” says Kate, shaking Darcy’s hand as they are introduced in a SHIELD boardroom.

“Everyone saw that episod of _Grey's Anatomy_ ‘cause it was the first one,” says Darcy and she’s not wearing her hat and she is wearing the sort of suit that accentuates everything and makes her a thousand times more intimidating than she had been last night when Kate was doing body shots off Darcy’s stomach. As of right now, Darcy is so far out of Kate’s league that she doesn’t know how she dared even to make eye contact. It’s like she’s forgotten Hawkeye Rule 3.

(Hawkeye Rule 3: No one is out of Hawkeye’s league.)

“Kate Bishop, Codename Hawkeye,” says Sitwell and he frowns. “Because that won’t be confusing. Agent Darcy Lewis. She’ll be your handler.” 

The door opens and Hawkeye walks in. He opens his arms out wide.

“Heeeey, Katie-Kate, you made it.” 

“Clint Barton, Codename Hawkeye,” says Sitwell. “See?”

“You gotta meet Phil - I mean, Agent Coulson.” Clint looks a little pink but maybe that’s exertion because it’s hot today and he’s not getting any younger and he’s perpetually recovering from injuries. 

“Agent Phil Coulson is Hawkeye’s handler,” says Sitwell. “But not your handler. Look, this is why codenames are _unique_. What if all agents were called Coulson?”

“Then SHIELD would run with alarming efficiency and we probably wouldn’t need any Hawkeyes at all.” Another man walks into the room, unless he’s been here all along, and he is not particularly imposing or remarkable, except that he has a kind smile, a receding hairline and eyes that might be ice or sea or sky. 

“Coulson, I’m hurt,” says Hawkeye.

“That’s because you fell out of a Quinjet,” says Coulson. 

Kate thinks she likes this guy. She likes anyone who calls Hawkeye on his shit. She thinks she likes his exes more than she likes him, sometimes.

(Hawkeye Rule 4: Say it like it is.)

“Come on, Hawkeye,” says Darcy and Kate can’t lie; it sends a shiver down her spine. “I’ll show you around. Odds are these guys will still be flirting by the time you’ve seen all of HQ.”

“Flirting?” asks Kate. She cranes her neck to look over her shoulder, even as Darcy guides her away. “That was flirting? I don’t think I’ve ever seen Hawkeye flirt before.”

“You’d think with his roster, he’d know how to flirt.”

“Yeah, usually, I think he just, you know, trips up and it just slides home, you know?”

“The art of accidental seduction. Is it a Hawkeye thing?” asks Darcy and her eyes are twinkling but she has an impressive poker face.

(Hawkeye Rule 5: Whatever happens, act like you totally meant to do that. Especially if it looks cool.)

“I totally knew what I was doing last night,” Kate says. 

“I don’t doubt it. Artistic impression and technical merit,” says Darcy. “High scores all round.”

Kate’s beginning to think that SHIELD agents have some common character traits. “So we’re going to talk about it?”

Darcy comes to a stop. Kate walks on a few steps before realising this. She turns around and Darcy’s standing there, hands on hips, and devastating.

“Look, Hawkeye? Last night? Amazing. I keep getting this, like, graphic fuck-flashback at the most inappropriate time. But how about we get through the day and get you settled? I don’t want your first day at SHIELD to be about anything other than you and SHIELD. It’s gonna be the longest relationship you’ll ever have.” 

“Give or take twelve hours,” says Kate before she can stop herself.

Somehow, incredibly, Darcy smiles. “Let’s leave marriage proposals till the end of the day, shall we?” 

.

By the end of the day, Kate finds herself in Darcy’s office and Darcy has her spread-eagled across the desk and she’s eating Kate out and she’s still wearing that goddamned perfect suit and it’s the hottest thing Kate has ever experienced.

(Hawkeye Rule 6: Hyperbole is never inappropriate.)

Darcy’s phone rings, or one of them does, and it’s the red one and, if Kate knows anything, it’s that red phones are super-important. 

“Agent Lewis.” Darcy’s lips and chin are wet and Kate’s thighs are still quivering. “I understand, sir. We’ll be right there.”

She hangs up and stands up straight. “We have a situation. I’m going to need you to suit up - you remember where the locker rooms are?”

Kate scrambles to her feet and pulls up her jeans. “Yes, ma’am.” She has a lot of questions to ask, about fraternisation (and what it is when it’s two ladies) and so much more, but she settles for one. “What are you going to do?”

Darcy grins. “Me? I’m going to suit up too. You need to get to Quinjet Bay 6 ASAP.”

.

Kate’s suit is beautiful. It’s purple and fits her like a second skin and it’s made of something that repels sharp objects. 

“Christ, Girlie Girl,” says Clint, which is his way of saying that she looks good, as they fall into step together. 

They end up on the same Quinjet, side by side, and Coulson’s voice crackles in their headsets. 

“We have a minor situation in Boston and I expect you to contain it quickly and efficiently. There’s some kind of wormhole over the duck pond at the Commons. Thor and Sif are on their way but we don’t think it’s an Asgardian signature. Hawkeyes, you’ll be up high. Captain America and Hulk will provide the muscle and Iron Man, Mockingbird and Doctor Strange will deactivate the device, which is believed to be AIM in origin. Captain Marvel and Falcon will provide aerial support. Agent 13 is on the ground with Agent Lewis and Agent Sitwell.”

“If this is a minor situation, I’m kinda scared what the role call would be for a major situation,” whispers Kate. 

“Nah,” says Clint. “Everyone’s bored. I reckon you’n me could sort this out but they all gotta stretch their legs.”

.

It’s only afterwards, when they’re back in medical at SHIELD and Kate’s flexing her bandaged leg, that she thinks maybe words have different meanings in SHIELD, like minor and contain and deactivate because they all seem to involve a lot of explosions. 

She gets off her bed and hobbles around the curtain to where Clint is lying back with a bandage around his head and a sling on his left arm. 

“You okay, Hawkeye?”

“A+, Hawkeye. How ‘bout you? How was your first day?”

“100% less concussion than your first day.”

“Aw, shit. Who’s been tellin’ tales out of school?” 

Kate grins and sits on the chair next to Hawkeye’s bed. “Pretty much everyone. So, hey, about Coulson.”

She’d never have believed it but Clint goes bright red. “Aw, Katie Kate, not you, too?”

“Wha-at? You guys have a thing.” She waves her hand. “A rapport.”

“Like the one you have with Darcy?”

Kate’s grin only gets bigger. “What’re the odds, huh, of fucking your handler the night before you start working with them?”

(Hawkeye Rule 7: The odds are ever in your favour.)

“No.”

“Katie-”

“ _No._ I mean. Really? What _happened_?”

“Well, I was at this dive bar in Hell’s Kitchen and this guy in a suit walked in and I thought, what the fuck, it’s my last night of freedom before selling my soul to a shady government organisation so we went to this hotel on 10th and there was this sign out front that said twelve bucks an hour and I said, fuck that’s cheap for a hotel room, and he said that was just the car parking price. It totally wasn’t a hotel that charged room rates by the hour, so don’t listen to anyone who tries to tell you that shit, Katie, and-”

“Okay, Hawkeye. Stop. I don’t want the _actual_ details of your fling with Agent Coulson. I want to know what’s with the puppy eyes, like, decades later.”

“It just. You know. We never. Also, _hey_.” (Kate loves Clint’s belated indignation.) “It was, like, eight years ago.”

“Don’t you think you shoulda, though? Coulda saved a lot of heartache all round.”

(Hawkeye Rule 8: Hawkeye is allowed to take the side of Hawkeye’s ex-girlfriends.)

Clint closes his eyes. “You seem totally okay with it.”

“What, with you wanting to give it to a dude?” Kate holds up her hands. “Or take it. This is a judgment-free zone.” 

“Thanks for that. So, hey, you and Darce?”

Kate ducks her head and grins. “Yeah, about that. I wanted to ask -”

There’s a rattle and the curtain around Hawkeye’s bed is pushed aside. 

“Oh, I can come back.”

“Nooo, no, Agent Coulson, sir. No.” Kate stands up, maybe a bit too fast, given her injured leg. “Hawkeye was just telling me about when you guys first met.”

She ignores Clint’s anguished groan and flashes Coulson a bright smile and she makes her way to Darcy’s office.

So, Darcy in her civvies is hot. Darcy in her tailor-made suit is hot. Darcy in her SHIELD jumpsuit makes Kate stop making words. 

“Humnuhrgle,” she says. 

“I could say the same to you,” says Darcy. Her hair is swept up into a ponytail and she wears skin-tight black combat gear like she was born to. “I need to shower. You probably shouldn’t get that leg wet though.”

“Humn **ughle** ,” Kate says, forlornly.

“I’ve just finished writing my field report. I’ll need one from you by tomorrow but you were excellent today, Kate. You fit in with the team, made some excellent calls and, yeah. Clint was right about you.”

Kate limps over to Darcy and she can’t help it; she puts her hands on Darcy’s waist. “I have a question, Agent Lewis,” she says, proud that her voice is only a little husky. “It’s about fraternisation? Which is such a male-oriented word, I mean, what the fuck- I blame the patriarchy. But. But. About that-”

“It isn’t a thing, here,” says Darcy. “I mean. It should be and it’s supposed to be and, god, I know I shouldn’t be your handler and, you know, this is probationary for both of us and if I have to choose between being your handler and pursuing a relationship with that amazing girl from the bar who did _the_ most ridiculous robot dance-”

“Oh _god_ -” says Kate.

“-well, I wanna do both. But we should try to be good. Tomorrow. We’ll be good tomorrow.” Darcy smiles and she pushes Kate’s hair behind her ear. “The whole fraternisation thing. I mean. Let me tell you a story-”

“If it’s about Hawkeye and Coulson, I heard the Hawkeye-very-much-not-abridged version in Medical-”

Darcy laughs. “No. No. This is about Captain America. A SHIELD agent was sent to watch over him. Just to make sure he was okay and not, like, being kidnapped by AIM or HYDRA or whatever. She was set up as his neighbour - her alias was Kate, by the way - and I swear to God, it’s like no one thought this through. Girl Next Door is basically a total honey-trap for someone like Cap. But anyway, they got close. And they got closer. And they basically told SHIELD that if they wanted to keep ‘em both, they were going to have to turn a blind eye. So, you know. They did.”

Kate gets it. She does. If you’re gonna save the world, you might as well start by figuring out what it is you’re saving. She reaches out and tugs at the zipper at the front of Darcy’s jumpsuit. If Darcy needs a shower, well, Kate can be helpful. She tugs it down and down and then Darcy’s naked to the waist and Kate can see bitemarks on her breasts from last night and she ducks her head to lick at them. She sucks one nipple into her mouth while she slides her hand into Darcy’s pants. There’s not much room to manoeuvre but, soon, Darcy is rocking down onto Kate’s fingers and one of her thighs is between Kate’s legs and Kate is bearing down and it’s hot and the friction is almost unbearable. Both of Darcy’s hands are buried in Kate’s hair and she shoves her thigh up more and Kate’s cries are muffled and Darcy’s are not. 

“Tomorrow,” says Darcy, gasping. “We’ll be good tomorrow. I gotta - I gotta shower.” 

She straightens up and Kate has heard all the stories about Carol Danvers and Sif and Jessica Drew and Natasha Romanov (and not all of them have come from Hawkeye) but, right now, Darcy’s the kind of super-heroine Kate wants to be, and the kind she wants to have. 

Kate leans in and kisses Darcy softly and says, “Tomorrow. Sounds good.” They smile at each other and they both bite their lower lips and laugh because there’s been good and there’s being great.

(Hawkeye Rule 9: Never settle.)

.

Kate goes down to the parking garage and when she gets close to Clint’s car, she sees two shapes next to it, standing close. They’re standing kissing-close. They’re kissing. 

“Well, shit,” she says.

Hawkeye and Agent Coulson pull apart quickly and both look guilty until Hawkeye glares at her. 

(Hawkeye Rule 10: Don’t cockblock.)

“You’re my ride home, buddy,” says Kate, pointing at her leg. She looks between them and the way Hawkeye’s hand is wrapped around Coulson’s tie and Coulson’s hands are firmly planted on Hawkeye’s butt. 

“Oh, for fuck’s sake. I’ll take a cab.”

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Agents and their Assets](https://archiveofourown.org/works/962491) by [lanyon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lanyon/pseuds/lanyon)




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